ORANGE – A four-month struggle between Orange firefighters and City Hall remains in gridlock – with both sides now looking toward a state-appointed mediator to push through the standoff.

The city and firefighter representatives were to start meeting with the mediator Wednesday.

At the center of the public brawl is the city's desire to eliminate minimum staffing requirements at eight fire stations to cut down on personnel costs – particularly overtime hours. The city wants to give Fire Chief Pat Dibb the responsibility of staffing the eight stations, deciding whether to call in a firefighter on overtime to cover for a sick firefighter.

Meanwhile, union officials for the 108-firefighter force argue that changing the city's staffing levels would leave the city exposed and increase response times to emergencies.

Steven Pham, Orange's human resources director, said the city's current minimum staffing is 35 to 38 firefighters on duty each day.

"That means if a firefighter calls in sick or can't make it, we are required to go into our list and pull people in for overtime," Pham said. "So whether the city needs that position or not, we still have to have 35 people on duty, and it becomes an overtime cost to the department."

In 2011, the firefighters called in sick for 16,214 hours; that averages to 150 hours per firefighter.

Because of the minimum staffing requirements, Pham said those hours had to be filled by calling in firefighters to work overtime. For the fiscal year 2011-12, the city paid $2.8 million in overtime.

The average salary in the Orange Fire Department before benefits is $118,000, with an average of $26,000 being paid in overtime, bumping up the average salary to $143,800.

Of the 108 fire employees, only one accrued no overtime in the last fiscal year.

Greg Lewin, president of the Orange City Firefighters union, said reducing daily staffing could leave the city exposed.

"That will leave part of the city open when someone calls 911," Lewin said. "If Engine 1 isn't open, they're going to have to wait five extra minutes for Engine 5 to get there."

City officials maintain the average response time of 5 minutes, 19 seconds will not be affected because of aid agreements with outside agencies.

"In the old days, we didn't have good communications; we didn't have mutual liaisons with the other departments," Pham said. "So we may have needed to have 'X' number of people on duty so we would get the equipment there on time."

It was not clear how much the changes would save the city. The Orange City Council would have to sign off on any new plan.

This is not the first time the city has looked at its options to cut down firefighting costs. Last year, the city partnered with Fullerton and Anaheim to have a consultant look at the possibility of merging their fire departments.

The report, completed in January, determined that combining the three departments could save the cities a collective $1.2 million.

The report also suggested that Orange outsource its ambulance service, which it keeps in three of its eight stations. The three rescue ambulances require a daily staffing of two firefighting paramedics per ambulance. Councilman Denis Bilodeau mentioned that option as well: outsourcing the ambulance services to also save the city money.

That is a common practice for several cities, including 22 cities that partner with the Orange County Fire Authority and neighboring Anaheim and Fullerton.

"We are one of the few cities left that has firefighters driving ambulances," Bilodeau said.

The clash between city officials and firefighters has been visible for weeks. Union members have spoken out at City Council meetings, hung banners from freeway overpasses and sent out mailers to residents.

Lewin said if minimum staffing is eliminated, residents could be put at risk.

"They want the ability to shut down fire engines or run short," he said. "My paycheck stays the same. I'm still going to earn my same hourly wage that I earned whether there are 25 on duty or 45 on duty."

Bilodeau accused the union of attempting to scare residents.

"They're putting out a lot disinformation," he said. "I would say the sentiment among residents is running 50-50. Some are scared, and some are resentful that (the) union is using bullying tactics."

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